Afghanistan: oppression once more on the rise
The radical Islamist Taliban, who after returning to power have ruled Afghanistan for the past three years, have continued to restrict freedom and human rights. A new law 'to prevent vice and promote virtue' prohibits women from singing or reading aloud in public. The law also introduces stricter dress codes for women and men and bans homosexuality, music and extramarital relationships.
International community has failed again
Yetkin Report is outraged:
“Despite these monstrous violations of women's rights, there has been no coherent, coordinated and rights-based response from the international community. Instead the reaction has been piecemeal, and has lacked the commitment to take tangible measures to defend human rights and international law. On the contrary, the international community has shown a gradual acceptance of the Taliban's violations of the rights of women and girls. This shows a dangerous trend towards the normalisation of such violations.”
This should shock the conscience of humanity
El País demands action:
“At the end of June a delegation from Kabul – without women or representatives of civil society – took part in the third [UN] Afghanistan Summit in Doha. It was a blatant contradiction on the part of the UN, whose Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the country, Richard Bennett, had reminded us only days earlier that the institutionalisation of the oppression of women and girls 'should shock the conscience of humanity'. No geopolitical urgency justifies ignoring the fanatical repression of the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. The international community cannot leave Afghan women alone in hell again. And now in silence too.”